EXCLUSIVE: Economy Leads Discussion at Obama-Brown Meeting

March 3, 2009— -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today his ambitious proposal of creating a "Global New Deal" was one among a wide range of issues he discussed at the White House during his visit with President Obama.

The two leaders discussed the global economic crisis and plans for coordinated stimulus packages around the world.

The creation of a "Global New Deal," according to Brown, amounts to governments pouring large amounts of resources into the economy, a restructuring of the financial architecture, and investment in green technologies.

Today, Brown discussed how his idea would affect ordinary Americans, many of whom have been critical of the proposal.

"What it means is that every country should be contributing to bringing an end to this downturn," he said. "That we've got to enlist all the energies of people in different parts of the world to deal with problems that we all face. ... America trades with other countries. If these other countries have got no money, they can't trade with America. So, you lose your exports. Everybody is affected by things that are happening in different countries and we've got to work together to solve this problem."

Brown said he's looking at how America and Europe can lead by example to better stimulate the economy, and said that he and Obama agreed on some parts of his proposal.

"I think President Obama and I agreed that, first of all, we had to do more to persuade other countries that they should do some of the things that America, Britain, and the rest of Europe have been doing," he said.

"I think we're talking about also how the banks themselves that are global -- they are international, they don't have branches just in America, they have branches all over the world -- how they can work better to serve the interests of the public," he said.

"And I think we're looking at how we can get trade moving again so that American exports can sell to the rest of the world just like British exports can sell to the rest of the world, and that means that our people have jobs as a result of that.